Carpe Diem Lounge-Café — Restaurant in Salzburg

I spent the last 15 years working in luxury hotels and resorts where I dealt primarily in guest experience revolving around Michelin Star Rating, Forbes Five Star, Best 50, etc. , and while I am most certainly “professionally deformed”, I would like to give some feedback on our breakfast experience at the Carpe Diem Lounge.

Overall, the food was good, not great, but by Austrian standards certainly passable. The service and overall processes need attention.

We booked a table for 3 at 10:30 and arrived at 10:20, where we found an unmanned hostess counter. The lady at the ticket counter merely mentioned the hostess would be there soon and place us. Two tables were occupied at that tine and 4 staff were on duty, none of which wanted to walk over and deal with us. Someone finally did show up when we waived at them and escorted us to our table, which already had cutlery and bread baskets set up in advance. It struck me as odd since I’d expect bread to be served warm, along with the order, but it seems the team works off a mise-en-place that doesn’t really account for that. Not what I’d preferred, but fine.

We placed our orders for 2 salty breakfast sets and some egg omelette a la carte, when the million dollar question came up: what is included in the salty breakfast set? (The menu does not list the actual dishes). The answer: some cheese, some cold cuts, a little bit of the a la carte items and “things like that” (German: “sowas halt…”). Right, I figured it would be such a wide spread, we would know more when it’s actually served. When the trays at last arrived, we got a “enjoy your meal” and were left with cold bread and not much of a clue of what certain dishes actually are.

It was then when I reminded myself while this may be a lounge backed by the Behemoth that is Red Bull and a sister outlet of the Michelin Star awarded Icarus, it is in essence nothing more than a coffee bar with snacks and a price tag that exploits the reputation without actually delivering the expected quality.

The remainder of our meal was still marred the lack, or rather absence, of service staff as we had to get up ourselves twice and walk over to the bar counter to order another round of coffee. The staff were chatting away and generally not really doing any table service or satisfaction checks, which again underlined that this is outlet is not a restaurant.

Another odd sighting was the cleaning lady deciding to broom the area while the service was still happening, and while the ambience is good enough, it is weird that the entire outlet can hear the dryer from the bathroom when someone washes his hands.

All in all, it is not a bad place, but if one goes there in anticipation of having a nice breakfast and is happy to pay the 30-40 EUR per cover charge, then it comes with the expectation of proper service, especially when the destination advertises itself as upscale.

Sadly, this time it was just a cafe...

Get there for breakfast, before 11:30am as the two options available are fantastic servings of food and drink. Salty is the savoury option with plates loaded with different tastes and textures. Sweet is the option with fruit , cakes, waffles, yogurt, cereal etc. To go along with them choose the hot chocolate. It comes as hot milk with a side dish of chocolate, dark or milk, which needs to be stirred in the hot milk to melt, so it is real hot chocolate. There are choices of lemonade too included. If you are so inclined then have a champagne breakfast. We had both salty and sweet and could barely finish it. € 70 for all of that, really good value. The service was also exceptional from entrance to exit. Everything was explained, what was included on the plates, how it works, the options etc. Housekeeping was performed regularly so the place is really clean despite being busy. You can book either 9am or 10:30am otherwise just turn up and hope they have a table. You also get a good view of the Red Bull cars and planes. We went twice during our 10...

Came for the breakfast and got their savory set. Comes with prosecco and a coffee.

Overall I think it's worth a visit here especially when combo with the hanger.

Why 4 stars and not 5? For one, there were two flies pestering me throughout the meal which I didn't think fit the setting, and they also didn't explain the beautifully set out tray.

Either write it in the menu, or the waitress should explain it. I had to guess what was what which was admittedly...